


Black and Blue

by Morbid_Hatter



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Catholic Guilt, I will give this a happy ending if it kills me, M/M, Matt Needs to Use His Words, Mutual Pining, Vladimir Needs to Use His Words, do you see a pattern here?, eventual get-together, one-night stand
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-07 02:47:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11614299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morbid_Hatter/pseuds/Morbid_Hatter
Summary: Unofficial Sequel to Show Your Colors. What happened after the boys went to coffee together.Matt's Catholic Guilt rears it's ugly head and he ends up mucking things up. But really, what are the odds that they will run into each other again?Really good odds, it turns out. Matt finds that he keeps running into Vladimir everywhere after their one night together. This isn't good for his guilt, but at least it's a nice view - now, if only he could get the frustrating (and unfairly attractive) blond to acknowledge him...





	1. Chapter 1

The sun was bright – it was shining through the small window in Matt’s dorm right into Vladimir’s eyes. It felt like an ice pick was attempting to dig through his eye socket and scramble his brains up. He wasn’t hungover, per-say, but he was definitely feeling the after effects of an afternoon of steady drinking.

It wasn’t until he felt the narrow bed shift that he heard the irritating knocking at the door.

“Shit,” Matt groaned and buried his head in Vladimir’s shoulder before he froze. He detangled himself from the blankets and crawled over Vladimir. He took a moment to admire the view before he felt as though a bucket of cold water had been dropped over his head when Matt muttered a hurried “maybe you should go.”

Matt wasn’t looking at him as he clumsily jumped into his boxers and pants before he opened the door enough to fit his head through. Vladimir recognized Foggy through the small opening. He nodded at the blond and then sat up more to find where his clothes had ended up after their rushed attempt to get each other naked the night before.

The door closed and Matt hurried into the bathroom. Minutes later the shower turned on and Vladimir got the hint. He had been kicked out of bed enough times to recognize a dismissal when he was given one.

Instead of waiting around for the inevitable ‘it’s not you, it’s me,’ speech, he got dressed and made his way to the door. He only hesitated by the bathroom for a moment while he debated with himself whether or not to knock and say ‘goodbye’ before he thought better of it. Instead, he settled for a quick and quiet getaway.

When he opened the door, he was met with an annoyed looking Foggy and a confused Karen. “Matt is in the shower. He should be out soon,” he said to his shoes. He walked around the pair hovering by the door and waved awkwardly at them as he started down the brightly lit hallway.

“Where are you going in a rush?” Foggy asked, his tone harsh and accusing.

“He asked me to leave,” Vladimir explained without turning around, his shoulders tense and chest tight with hurt. He knew, logically, that Matt didn’t need to explain his reasonings for asking him to leave. It just hurt knowing that, once again, he managed to find himself attracted to someone he thought was different only to get used again.

Heaving a sigh and forcing away the lump in his throat, he made his way back to the apartment he shared with Anatoly.

Anatoly was passed out on the couch, still dressed in the clothes he wore to the festival, when Vladimir snuck in through the door. He managed to take his shoes off and make it to the bathroom without waking his brother. It was only when he caught sight of the remains of the paint job on his face and deciding he could use a shower to wash away the pain and the smell of sex still clinging to him, did he manage to wake his brother up. He had just managed to strip back out of his clothes when Anatoly banged on the door.

“How was your night out, _brat_?” His brother called through the door. Vladimir sighed and wrapped a towel around his waist before his over-excitable brother could knock it down.

When the door opened to reveal his brothers leering face Vladimir knew he was in for it. He had seen the meandering line of hickeys going from his collarbone to his hip in the mirror while he got undressed; he knew he looked thoroughly debauched from head to toe.

The leer on Anatoly’s face only grew when his eyes traveled from Vladimir’s ruffled hair, to the flecks of paint clinging to his face, and finally settling on the bruises. “Yes, I think you had fun. You are too uptight and anxious, Volodya.”

Vladimir huffed and went to slam the door in his brother’s face. “Still not good enough to keep around,” he muttered under his breath as he managed to close the door. He hadn’t meant for his brother to hear his quiet complaint, but from the look on Anatoly’s face just before the door closed, he was unsuccessful.

He could hear him yelling in Russian through the door. Normally, he would at least explain what he had meant, but right now he wasn’t in the mood. He used the water to drown out his brother’s muted voice as he scrubbed away the last 24 hours under the too-hot water. He was numb to the temperature of the water and part of him wished it would wash away the feeling in his chest as it washed away his activities from the previous day.

“Get a grip,” he told himself while he thumped his head against the wall. “It is not the first time I was used. It will not be the last.” He closed his eyes and tried to fight away the oncoming anxiety attack he could feel bubbling up in his chest.

It wasn’t like he would be alone forever, he reasoned with himself; he knew he would always have his brother, but when he was alone and feeling vulnerable, he wondered if he would ever manage to keep a partner. It wasn’t even that he wanted someone just for regular sex; he missed being physically close with someone – go on dates with them, cuddle, even just hang out with them.

Even thinking about what he wanted out of a relationship just felt pathetic. Besides the fact that he enjoyed sex immensely, it sounded, at least to himself, that he just wanted friends. “Quit being pathetic,” he told himself before he swallowed the lump in his throat and buried the crippling loneliness down deep where he could ignore it.

By the time he was out of the shower, he could manage to pretend he couldn’t care less about getting kicked out of by yet another potential love. When he left the bathroom in a cloud of steam, he was met with the murderous face of his brother.

“Tolik?” Vladimir called softly, afraid to set his brother off after whatever it was that made him angry.

“What do you mean you are ‘not good enough to keep around’?” he growled out through clenched teeth. “You are good enough for whatever _that_ was,” he gestured to Vladimir’s exposed chest, “but not enough for -” he cut himself off and ran his hands through his hair in obvious frustration.

Vladimir was oddly touched by his brother’s anger on his behalf. “I am a big boy, Tolik. I can handle a little rejection.” He crossed his arms over his chest, feeling exposed under his older brother’s intense eye. “It is my fault anyway. We did not talk about what we wanted after last night.”

Anatoly just leaved a dramatic sigh, called him an idiot and left him alone.

He was glad to be alone again. He could pretend he wasn’t hurt by Matt’s rejection for as long as necessary, but what he really wanted to do was sleep and hope that he felt better after sleeping some more. Even if would be alone. Again.

 

\--

Matt collapsed onto the floor of the tub after he, once again, ran away from his problems. He had hoped that he would be saved from the all-encompassing Catholic Guilt for once so he could enjoy being himself for long enough to actually get himself a date.

He curled his knees up to his chest and dug his fingernails into his shins when he heard the door open and close again. Vladimir had been a lot of fun to spend time with – they had gotten coffee at a café not far from campus that Vladimir apparently visited with alarming frequency (if everyone knowing his name and order were anything to go by.)

They had talked for hours until the café started closing around midnight. It had been fun; he had been thoroughly charmed by the blond, so much so that he had broken his own rule and brought him back to his dorm room. He had a firm rule that he wouldn’t put out on a first date, and coffee hadn’t really counted as a date, and still he had slept with him. “Fuck,” he cursed into his knees. Even without his glasses he had been able to see the hurt expression on Vladimir’s face when he suggested that his bedmate should leave. That face was going to haunt him for a while.

As the water grew colder he could feel a headache from too much alcohol and several bad decisions develop behind his eyes. “Fuck,” he cursed again when he heard banging at the bathroom door and Foggy yelling at him to hurry up.

He came out of the bathroom in the same clothes he had worn the night before. Normally, he wouldn’t have bothered; but since Karen was no doubt waiting for him with her boyfriend, he decided to show a modicum of modesty.

“So,” Foggy said to Matt’s back while he dug around in his closet for a clean shirt.

“So,” Matt parroted, trying to break the awkward tension that had settled in their shared room. He had texted Foggy late last night when he had decided to bring Vladimir back to the room to ask him to clear out for the night. He hoped Foggy wasn’t mad – he had never asked his friend to stay away for the night ever since they had met at the beginning of their Freshman year.

“So why did ‘Braveheart the Bisexual’ scuttle out of here like he was on fire?” Foggy asked. He didn’t have to see his friend’s face to know that there was a sarcastic smile on his face.

Matt just shook his head and searched around for his glasses before he found them under the pillow he had knocked off the bed some time the night before. “Can we not talk about that right now? I already feel bad enough. Please don’t make it worse.”

Foggy shadowed him while he hunted down his shoes and found a clean pair of socks. “I don’t get it, you were so hung up on that guy as soon as you saw him. Was he a jackass or something?”

“No,” Matt muttered to his feet, his shoulders hunching closer to his ears as his guilt grew.

“Was he boring? Bad at sex?”

“No. _No_.”

“He didn’t make you do anything you didn’t want to, did he?” Karen asked quietly.

Matt, who had been doing his best not to make eye contact with his friends, whipped around to stare at them both. “ _What?_ No!” he almost yelled. It made him sick to hear that they thought there had been anything wrong with the night before – especially with Vladimir who had been nothing but a gentleman until Matt had very blatantly suggested going back to his dorm. “He was great,” he said lamely, not at all encompassing their night.

“Then why did you kick him out? He was more than welcome to get breakfast with us,” Foggy said with a confused frown.

Matt hung his head again and allowed himself to collapse backwards onto his bed and immediately cursed himself when he could still smell Vladimir’s cologne on the pillow he had used the night before. “Fuck me,” he complained to the ceiling and then had to roll away when Foggy’s leering face appeared in his line of sight.

“It looks like Braveheart already did,” Foggy said, his leer turning into a wicked looking smile.

Matt huffed a laugh and shook his head. “Actually, he wasn’t the one doing the fucking,” Matt said, and he felt his own smile grow despite the guilt still gnawing at his gut. Foggy held up a tentative hand for a high five that Matt couldn’t help but give him. “He’s really flexible,” Matt said, unable to stop himself from bragging just a little bit. It didn’t help the feeling in his gut, but he did want to let himself think about the best parts of the night.

 “Let’s get you some proper diner hangover food,” Foggy said, being the best friend ever and changing the subject when he knew Matt would need it the most. Foggy was the best.

He followed the couple as they talked animatedly about the end of festival – something about fireworks, maybe, Matt wasn’t really listening. His attention was caught and taken by the shopfront of a very familiar café. If he tried hard enough, he could picture his time with Vladimir as they talked about everything and anything ( _except the important things,_ he lamented to himself) under the soft light of the overhead lamps. He sighed heavily and shook his head when his mind supplied him with the image of the moonlight casting shadows across Vladimir’s face while he bit his lip and contorted his body so that one leg was over Matt’s shoulder and the other resting high on his waist. _Fuck_ , he mentally cursed.

Even with the smell of his hash browns and bitter coffee, he couldn’t get the idea out of his head that he had made a huge mistake. It hadn’t even about the awesome sex, although that had been a large factor in his regret, it wasn’t the part that made him wish his panic hadn’t kicked in when it did. He stirred around his hash browns and forced himself to eat them even after they had gone cold – even though he could feel his stomach churn.

Once he gave up on the last few bites of his meager breakfast, he pulled his phone out and tortured himself for a moment looking at the picture Karen had sent him after she had sent it off to Frank. He smiled softly and bit back a laugh at the surprised look on his own glitter covered, rainbow painted face. It was a good thing he adored Karen or he would never have let her put all that gunk on his face. He then caught a glimpse of his reflection in the shiny surface of the napkin dispenser and gagged. “You guys let me leave the dorm with glitter all over my face?” he asked, feeling a bit betrayed.

Karen shrugged. “It’s hard to get that stuff off – it’ll be gone soon enough.”

“Your bed may have to be burned though,” Foggy added unhelpfully. “At the very least you’ll need new bedding. It looks like you had sex with Tinkerbell instead of Braveheart.”

Matt flipped him off with a roll of his eyes. “You know, he’s got a name.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he does,” Foggy said with a wave as if it didn’t matter. “You’re gonna just have to forget about him. It’s a one-night stand, people have those all the time.”

 _He’s right,_ he thought, glum and regretful. There was nothing else to do except deal with the fact that he had treated Vladimir like a regretted one-night stand.

He was cheered slightly during the walk back to the dorms so he could grab his books to study for his exam in his Tax Law class set for the next day. Yesterday had been his one day he had given himself off from studying for the epically boring class; but he needed to get back to studying. As he walked off on his own with his bag thrown over his shoulders he reveled in the fact that he hardly recognized a face he passed even though he had attending Columbia for the last four years.

Maybe it would be easier to forget about his awkward crush on Vladimir and his subsequent crippling guilt over how he acted. The odds that he would ever run into Vladimir again were incredibly low. He could get over it. He could deal. _He could_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt finds that it's harder than he thought to do what Foggy said and forget about Vladimir. It may have something to do with running into him wherever he went.

There were some days where Matt cursed his innate ability to wake up early regardless of when he fell asleep the previous night. Today was not one of those days. Today he was glad for the extra time to get his daily dose of caffeine.

The Starbucks he usually went to before his 9AM class was closed since their hot water wasn’t working and weren’t allowed to stay open until it was fixed. This meant that Matt had to hurry down the street to get his coffee from _Cool Beans_ , the coffee shop Vladimir had taken him to the week before.

He was both excited and terrified to go back on his own. Foggy had just given him an epic eye roll when Matt told him he couldn’t handle sitting through class without his daily dose of caffeinated goodness; he had just called him an addict and told him he’d try to save him a seat. Although, he was glad Foggy hadn’t asked him where he was going – he was sure he would have also been called an idiot and would have to sit in the front row all by himself.

An icy chill went down his spine and settled in his stomach when he opened the door and was met with several frosty looks that made him self-consciously burrow into his hoodie. He waited with his head down for the small group in front of him to order before he shuffled up to the counter. He automatically perked up and felt his stomach drop simultaneously when he saw that the person at the bar was none other than Vladimir himself. “Hi!” he said, forcing cheer into his greeting despite the blank look he was given when he approached the register.

Vladimir blinked at him with a bored expression, doing a very good job at pretending he didn’t recognize Matt. “What can I get for you?” he asked in a tone that perfectly matched his facial expression.

Matt bit his lip at the less than enthusiastic greeting, but figured it wasn’t any less than he deserved. “Can I get a large coffee with a shot of espresso and caramel syrup?” he asked while he fished in his bag for his coffee money he kept squirreled away for his Tuesday morning classes.

While he stood around waiting for his coffee after he had been given his change, he tried his hardest not to watch Vladimir interact with the line that had formed behind him while he had waited his turn. It was obvious that he was uncomfortable interacting with so many people, but he also hid it well behind a smile and slightly accented, friendly words. He tried his hardest not to notice his broad shoulders and narrow waist, but the form-fitting t-shirt left little to imagination. Not that he needed his imagination when he could picture in vivid detail exactly how that body looked beneath the black shirt and pants.

An angry looking blonde girl thumped his coffee down on the counter and told him to have a nice day in a way that sounded just like “go fuck yourself.”

Matt hesitated at the counter, unsure about his next move. Part of him wanted to forego the coffee altogether, afraid that they had done something to it; the other part of him didn’t care and just needed caffeine. He had only just decided to risk it when he noticed the lull in the line and that Vladimir was busying himself restocking the counter. He made up his mind, he needed to talk to him and clear the air about their time together.

He maneuvered himself through the customers waiting behind him and went back to the counter. “Hi,” Matt tried again. This time he was met with a blank look which was worse than the bored indifference he had been privy to earlier. “Can we talk?”

Vladimir seemed to hesitate for a moment before he shook his head. “Sorry sir, if you need something else I will be happy to help, but the counter is for customers ordering something.”

Matt nodded awkwardly. “Hey,” he called as Vladimir turned around to grab something from behind him, “for what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” he said with as much sincerity as possible. Vladimir turned back to the bar but took a large step away from the register, purposefully putting distance between them. Matt followed subconsciously, trying to keep his stormy blue eyes in front of him for as long as possible.

“ _Izvinite. Ya ne govoryu po angliyski_ ,” Vladimir said, switching to Russian without missing a beat.

Matt didn’t know what the blond had said to him, but it didn’t sound mean, even if the girl that had given him his coffee covered a laugh with a very fake sounding cough. He got the hint and waved awkwardly before he hurried out the door with his ears burning and hurt simmering in his chest.

He knew he was just getting what he deserved but part of him just wanted the chance to explain what had happened – what always seemed to happen when he tried to get close to someone once he had figured out his sexuality. He had spent so long repressing what he was that sometimes it was hard for him to break the habit. And unfortunately, Vladimir had been the victim of his Catholic Guilt.

The coffee in his hand was wonderful even after his earlier caution over drinking it. They were apparently professional enough to purposefully screw up his order. A small kindness, he assumed considering they all seemed to know what happened, or had the right idea at the very least.

Matt sighed heavily as he slid into his seat next to Foggy with just a few seconds to spare. Foggy gave his cup a confused looked and tapped the side where his order was probably written. “Why is your name crossed out?”

Matt spun the cup around in curiosity and squinted at the words on the carboard sleeve. _Matt_ was written in sharp, spiky letters but had been crossed out by a different color pen and replaced with something in Russian written in a completely different handwriting.

He shrugged and pulled out his phone – grateful that his keyboard could switch between the Phonetic alphabet and Cyrillic so he could plug in the foreign looking letters into his Google Translate. After a few agonizing seconds, the word was translated and Matt was torn between frowning and laughing. He settled for both before he managed to catch Foggy’s attention and show him the meaning of the word. While he didn’t necessarily trust Google to translate with one hundred percent accuracy, he couldn’t help but think it was correct in this instance.

The word his name had been replaced with translated to _asshole_.

Maybe it was deserved.

\--

Matt was silently fuming as he half stomped half ran down the busy sidewalk to get off campus. There hadn’t been a free table in the library for him to study at. He could feel his anxiety about taking the LSATs in February reach new heights. It didn’t seem to register to his brain that the test was still four months away.

He hitched up his backpack more securely onto his shoulders and tried not to look like he wanted to murder someone. It was almost midterms, he knew it was only reasonable for his classmates to be in the library trying to study. It didn’t mean he had to like it.

He managed to make it through the doors just before a clap of thunder announced the oncoming storm. Matt bad been watching it come across the horizon for the past hour. It was just another reason he was angry that he had to go off campus to study; he really didn’t want to get stuck in the rain with his less than waterproof backpack when he was a good ten-minute jog back to campus. He was just grateful that he made it to the library before the sky opened up.

Trying to stay positive, Matt noticed that he was one of three people in the library, including the person behind the desk. _At least it will be quiet,_ he thought to himself as he unpacked his books and sat them on the table in front of the comfy chair he had claimed as his own. He pulled out his phone and attached his headphones to it so he could listen to the playlist he had created for studying. It was upbeat enough that he wouldn’t fall asleep but not so much that he wouldn’t pay attention to what he was trying to read.

He had caught himself humming along with his music a few times and felt guilty each time. It didn’t matter that there was no one in his general vicinity, but it was the damn principle. He didn’t like when people made unnecessary noises in libraries. Maybe he was just grumpy, but it was just something that really rubbed him the wrong way.

It wouldn’t have bothered him too much, but he was trying, _really trying_ , to study despite the throbbing headache behind his eyes. Matt knew he should keep studying and ignore what was going on somewhere to his right, but he was quickly losing patience. He had suffered from migraines since his eyesight started to go downhill when he was nine; the headaches tended to heighten his other senses which were already starting to make up for his poor eyesight. His hearing, for example, was better than it needed to be – he could always hear every word of the obnoxious duo that shared a wall with he and Foggy (and if Wade didn’t ask Peter out by the end of the semester he was going to bash him over the head with the dictionary). Right now, he could hear the library aid loudly defending _Crime and Punishment._

He took a deep breath and took his headphones out with every intention of asking her to please, shut her fucking mouth, but nicer; but the words died in his throat when he managed to catch the profile of the person she was talking to.

Matt sighed heavily and slumped as far as possible into his chair without falling into an ungrateful heap on the floor.

He must have made some kind of noise to announce his presence to the duo at the front desk because they both looked in his direction. He had brought his book up to cover his face while he was still curled low on the seat. He knew he looked either like a loon or a huge jackass but he couldn’t bring himself to care – as long as Vladimir didn’t have time to recognize him. _Please don’t come over here_ , he chanted to himself over and over, hoping that he could somehow make himself invisible. He wasn’t ready for a repeat of _Cool Beans_ yet.

As subtly as possible, Matt slipped his headphones back into his ears and sat back up in the chair.

After several minutes with his music playing lowly so that he was still able to hear the discussion happening at the desk, Matt looked up over the top of his LSAT prep book. Vladimir had obviously gotten caught in the rain. His blond hair was darker than normal and was sticking up in wet spikes like he had tried to dry it with little success. It was an unfair view, if Matt was honest with himself. His eyes traveled down Vladimir’s torso where his t-shirt was clinging wetly to his broad shoulders and well-muscled back.

It wasn’t fair.

Matt knew he had no right to be upset about the view since he had the chance to see it sans any clothing (a very nice view, from what he could remember), but that memory was why he was upset. He knew it was his own fault that he wasn’t going to get to see the blond in any state of undress again because of his marvelous fuck up.

He forced his eyes away from the blond who had just decided to lean against the desk and give Matt an excellent view of his nicely shaped ass framed by dark jeans. “Shit,” he mumbled under his breath when he finally managed to get back to his book and realized that he had basically wasted ten minutes watching Vladimir stand in place. It was definitely a problem.

After deciding that his entire trip to the library was a waste of valuable study time (unless he counted studying Vladimir’s torso in a wet t-shirt which will only count when he’s alone in the shower later), Matt packed his books back up into his bag without looking up.

He would have made it safely out of the library if he hadn’t almost tripped over his shoes that had untied sometime when he was trying to study. He cursed under his breath and didn’t bother trying to fight the bright red blush he could feel burning his neck. He tied his shoe as quickly as possible and tried to make it to the door without bringing more attention to himself.

Apparently, he hadn’t been successful. He hadn’t made it a dozen steps before he heard the library aid ask if he was okay, her voice sounding too amused for her to not have seen him nearly smack his head off of the table.

“I’m okay,” he mumbled, not looking up from the floor. “Hi, Vladimir,” he added before he scurried away like a coward.

He kicked at a half-crushed Coke can with a frown. He hadn’t intended to acknowledge Vladimir so that he wouldn’t feel worse when the blond didn’t say anything to him. And what had he done instead? “Idiot.”

“ _Da,_ you are,” an accented voice said from behind him.

Matt spun on his heel and took a step back in shock. Vladimir was standing less than a foot behind him, shuffling his weight awkwardly from foot to foot. “Hi,” Matt said dumbly, confused as hell as to why Vladimir had followed him out of the library.

“You dropped this,” Vladimir said, pushing his phone into Matt’s hand. His touch, as brief as it had been, warmed his cold fingers for a long moment even after Vladimir turned on his heel and went back into the library to escape the heavy atmosphere that had settled during their interaction.

He had the urge to follow the blond and demand to know why he decided to be nice and give him his phone. But, he figured he had his reason: the guy was just nice. Or, maybe he had felt bad for watching Matt make an ass out of himself again. Or, maybe he wanted to torture Matt with what he couldn’t have and he was really an asshole in disguise. Whatever the reason, it had tilted Matt’s world on its axis for a long minute while he focused on the warmth still lingering from the brief touch and the smell of winter and cigarettes that lingered even after Vladimir had left.

“Shit,” he complained to the empty sidewalk. It wasn’t going to be easy to get over his crush on the blond if he kept running into him wherever he went. Especially when he did nice things even after Matt had treated him like a mistake.

 

\--

When Matt was feeling particularly anxious he liked to work out. Danny Rand, a guy in his Tax Law class, called him a ninja – even though that was pretty far from the truth, it was still a nice comparison. He didn’t mind going to the gym on campus to work up a sweat, but when he could feel the itch to hit something he wanted to go elsewhere. Back when his dad boxed, he had always trained at Fogwell’s gym and the habit had been inherited by Matt himself once he decided he needed a way to let the devil out. It had been a running gag at Fogwell’s to “be careful of the Murdock boys; they’ve got the devil in them,” but for Matt, it wasn’t far from the truth.

Part of him always felt this overwhelming need to just destroy. Sometimes it was a punching bag, sometimes it was his own love life – the results were always the same: he always ruined whatever it was in his way.

Today, he just needed to be away from everyone and just be himself for a few hours where he could vent his frustrations out on a bag instead of keeping it bottled in any longer.

The gym was unusually busy when he got in, which is probably why he didn’t notice him right away. He didn’t notice him through his warm up. He didn’t notice him while he taped up his hands and wrists. However, he did notice him when he started in on the bag. It was very poor timing on his part. His usual laser-like focus on his tasks had taken a recent hit thanks to his rising anxiety over taking the LSATs and general school related stress; thanks to this, he glanced to his right for just a second and forgot about what he was doing.

While his head was turned, he was greeted with the sight of a small group of people doing yoga. To Matt it looked like torture, but he knew several people who seemed to enjoy it. “Son of a bitch,” he hissed out when he caught sight of Vladimir doing what looked like a strange kind of handstand where all his weight was balanced on his shoulders. Matt knew there was a name for the position but he only knew two positions and that wasn’t one he was familiar with.

By the time he tore his eyes away from Vladimir’s back, he had lost the rhythm of the swing of the bag. For his negligence, he was rewarded with the bag swinging back and hitting him across the face. “Ow,” he whimpered pathetically when he got over the momentary shock of getting hit in the face with a heavy object.

He blinked owlishly, suddenly aware that his glasses had been knocked off his face.

In the time it had taken him to shake off the hurt and kneel down to feel around for his glasses a la Velma Dinkley, his glasses were suddenly in his face. “Thanks,” he said gratefully.

He looked up at the person who had helped him and instantly felt his face heat up in embarrassment when he was able to properly focus on his helper. _Of course,_ he thought with no small amount of self-hatred. _Of course, he’s nice after I was a complete dick_. “Thanks, Vladimir,” he said meekly. “I guess it’s too much to hope that you didn’t see that?”

“ _Da,_ I saw it. But I can pretend I did not if you will feel better,” the blond answered with a small smile, like he was trying very hard not to be amused by Matt’s situation.

“You speak English again, then?” he muttered, not really meaning for Vladimir hear his attitude, but from the flush that appeared over his cheekbones and nose, he heard it all the same. Matt was going to apologize for being an ass, but Vladimir beat him to it.

“Ah, yes. Sorry about that. I was being a bit of a dick,” he said to his feet, his hand going up to self-consciously ruffle the fine hairs at the back of his head. He shuffled his weight from foot to foot, using his entire body to show how uncomfortable he was. “I should go back to my class. I left them alone for too long already and they are still beginners,” he explained, voice trailing off towards the end.

Matt was totally charmed by the awkward rambling. It may have something to do with the sleeveless shirt and how his pants clung to his ass and thighs in an almost indecent way. _That is a lot of muscle on display,_ Matt mused while he waved a quick goodbye to Vladimir and gave his retreating back an appreciative once-over.

For the rest of his workout, Matt tried his hardest not to check out Vladimir’s yoga class. He managed for the most part, but there were certain times when he just couldn’t help himself. Matt shook his head, feeling better after his time with the bag even if he was distracted though most of it. He felt more balanced mentally but physically he was no better off; he felt pore tightly wound than before thanks to his libido.

He rushed through a few cool down stretches and decided he could shower back at his dorm, anything to get away from the yoga class whose teacher was sent to torture him with ‘what ifs’ and ‘could have beens’ thanks to his own hangups.

He was so focused on getting out of Fogwells that he hadn’t noticed he was being followed until a hand caught his forearm. Matt spun around, startled and almost fell into Vladimir’s chest. He managed to stutter out a greeting without acting like too much of a spaz. “What can I do for you?” he asked, trying to sound casual but missing by a mile.

Vladimir let go of Matt’s arm in order to tug at his hair again. Despite the awkwardness of the gesture, Matt found it endearing. “I just wanted to know -“ he paused and looked down at the ground while muttering something to himself in Russian. “I wanted to know what I did wrong.”

Matt was floored. He knew his freak out had hurt Vladimir’s feelings, but he hadn’t realized that the blond thought it was anything he had done or didn’t do. He felt his stomach drop and his chest tighten at the poorly hidden defeat back on Vladimir’s face. “Hey,” he said gently while he took ahold of the blond’s hand and threaded their fingers together. “It honestly wasn’t anything you did. You were awesome and I had a lot of fun I just-“ Matt took a deep breath and tried to center himself. “I spent so long pretending to be straight and hiding who I am that I unintentionally sabotage every potential relationship.”

Vladimir huffed out a laugh. “I understand that. I lived in Russia until I was seventeen. I spent a lot of time thinking I was broken, that there was something wrong with me because I liked boys just like I liked girls,” he confessed to Matt with a small frown and his mind obviously back in Russia where he had been told he was wrong for feeling a certain way.

Matt’s grip tightened around Vladimir’s fingers. “I’m glad you were able to get out,” he said lamely. He knew it wasn’t enough, but he wasn’t quite ready to go into everything he felt about his own struggles that he was still working through.

Vladimir nodded. “It is better here, _da_.” He stopped and seemed to notice something over Matt’s head. “ _Chert_. I need to get back inside. I have a nosy police officer at the window,” he said, gesturing at the window of Fogwell’s with a glare.

Matt glanced back to the gym and saw a woman casually leaning against the window, watching them with an amused smile.

“Officer Knight needs to stop being a jerk,” Vladimir said slowly towards the window. It took Matt a moment to realize he was speaking to the officer and not him. The realization brought a smile to his lips and made him grip Vladimir’s hand tighter again before he knew he would have to let go.

“When do you work at _Cool Beans_ next?” he asked before Vladimir had a chance to walk away.

“Tuesday. I am done at 7,” he said and brought their joined hands up to his lips and brushed a kiss across Matt’s knuckles.

Matt fought the blush but was no match for how cheesy and charming the blond was. “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to come see you. Maybe go out for dinner?” he asked, sounding surer than he felt.

“ _Da_. Until then, _moy sladkiy_ ,” he said before he pressed a light kiss against Matt’s cheek, making him blush again.

Matt watched him walk away with wonder written over his face. It had really been that easy. After trying to forget about him, assuming he would have no chance to try again with the blond, it had really been a matter of just telling him what had happened.

He smiled to himself and began walking back to campus with a spring in his step. He had a date to plan.


End file.
